Texas Railroad Commission eliminates public comment period from its public meetings

The commission holds open meetings each month in Austin to vote on matters ranging from pipeline violations to permit renewals. Under the old rules, members of the public could register to speak for up to three minutes at the end of each meeting. People regularly traveled hundreds of miles from the Permian Basin, South Texas, and the Gulf Coast to take that slot. The commission does not accept public comment by phone during these meetings.

The new policy was adopted before it was shared publicly, which drew attention to the process itself. In place of the comment period, the commission added more "listening sessions" where the public can speak to agency staff rather than to the commissioners who actually cast votes on permits and violations. Staff cannot vote, and commissioners are not required to attend.

For West Texas, this matters. The Permian Basin sits at the center of the state's oil and gas economy, and residents dealing with flaring, spills, or permitting disputes near their land now lose their clearest path to the decision-makers.

The lone dissenting vote suggests the commission itself was not unanimous on whether this trade was a fair one.